Best do-over for Vikings in 2016 NFL draft

Best do-over for Vikings in 2016 NFL draft

With the NFL Draft right around the corner, we thought we’d go back to what we’d do different in 2016 for the Minnesota Vikings.

It’s really not that hard. First off, we wouldn’t have drafted guard Willie Beavers with the 121st pick overall and 23rd in the fourth round. It feels like the Vikings could have picked any player and that would have been an improvement over Beavers.

Many weren’t huge fans of the pick of Beavers, and they turned out to be right. Beavers spent most of the season on the practice squad and when he did play, he wasn’t good.

So, who would we have taken instead?

How about running back Devontae Booker who was taken 15 spots later by the Denver Broncos?

In his rookie season, Booker averaged 3.5 yards per carry. That’s not great, but he showed flashes, running for 83 yards on 17 carries to go with a touchdown in an October win over Houston.

With how bad Minnesota’s offensive line was, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. But with Adrian Peterson likely on his way out (Minnesota was never going to pay him anything close to $18 million or what he wanted), Booker could have been next in line for the starting spot and the Vikings wouldn’t have had to sign Latavius Murray to a deal this offseason.

Booker is owed just $540,000 in 2017, while the Vikings gave Murray a three-year deal with $8.5 million guaranteed, according to Spotrac.

This isn’t to say that Booker would be a long-term solution at running back, but he’d give the Vikings a shot as a franchise running back while also not drafting an offensive lineman who didn’t make the team last season.

Like this article?

Sign up for the Vikings Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

Success

Thanks for signing up.
You'll be waking up a little more awesome tomorrow.